


And all the days ever after

by schweet_heart



Series: Merlin Fic [48]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Modern Royalty, Sleepy Kisses, remix eligible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 07:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9428633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schweet_heart/pseuds/schweet_heart
Summary: Modern Royalty AU. Arthur has an important question. Merlin would just like to go back to sleep.





	

 

 

Arthur watched as Merlin stirred in his sleep, a tiny frown puckering his forehead as a slow beam of sunlight crept across his face. He reached out and gently smoothed the line with his thumb, his smile becoming an outright grin when Merlin stirred and swatted at him, then shifted so that he could bury his face in the crook of Arthur’s neck.

 

“Five more minutes,” he mumbled, the sound muffled by pillow and sleep. “‘m not ready yet.”

 

“All right,” Arthur said. He ran his hand along Merlin’s flank and his bare back, a roughly circular motion calculated to send the other man back to sleep. “Five more minutes. We don’t have to get up for a while, anyway.”

 

Merlin snuffled a little, then subsided, his breathing once more becoming deep and regular. His hair was tickling Arthur’s cheek, so close that Arthur could smell his shampoo. Something cherry; ridiculously sweet. He resisted the urge to turn and rub his face against the softness of it. Mornings like this were the kind he liked best; he loved waking up to feel Merlin pressed against him, knobbly knees and bony elbows and all, listening to him breathe and knowing that this was theirs alone, this time, that no one else knew about it or could interfere with it. Here he was not a prince, in love with the most unsuitable of subjects, but just Arthur. Merlin’s Arthur, if he’d have him, although that question had yet to be decided.

 

Feeling unreasonably content with the world, Arthur snuggled down a little further under the blankets and turned so that he was curled up in a mirror image of Merlin’s position, letting his hand rest against Merlin’s hip and bringing their foreheads together. Merlin made a small noise of discontent at having his human pillow removed, and blinked his eyes open, grey-blue and heavy with sleep.

 

“You’re creepy," he said, yawning widely.

 

“Excuse you," Arthur said, affronted. “I am no such thing.”

 

“You’ve been watching me sleep.”

 

“That’s not creepy.” Arthur nuzzled at his cheek. “That’s self-preservation. How else am I going to know when you’re about to stab me with one of your elbows?”

 

“That was one time!” Merlin pouted, which was adorable, so Arthur kissed him. He made a disagreeable noise, but kissed back, so Arthur knew his ill temper was only for show. “You’re still creepy.”

 

“Mm. I happen to like watching you sleep.” Arthur touched Merlin’s cheek with his little finger, running it along the edge of his cheekbone. He studied Merlin for a long moment, watching the sweep of dark lashes against his cheeks, the sleepy dimple of his mouth. “Will you marry me?”

 

Merlin blinked, long and slow. “Are you serious?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Okay then. Yes.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Yes, Arthur Pendragon, I will marry you. Now can I go back to sleep?”

 

Arthur smiled. “Yes, Merlin,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

 

 

+

 

 

When Merlin woke up for real some time later, he was less sanguine about the prospect.

 

“Did I dream it or did you wake me up this morning and ask me to marry you?” he demanded, rolling over to look at Arthur, who by this time was in the process of getting dressed. Arthur paused in the act of knotting his tie and raised one eyebrow.

 

“Yes?” he said, a little uncertain. 

 

Merlin sat up on his elbows and glared, which wasn’t very effective at the best of times and became even less so when he was sporting such spectacular bed-head. “Arthur! You can’t just ask someone to marry you first thing in the morning!”

 

Arthur grinned. “Why not?”

 

“Because! That’s coercion! I can’t possibly be expected to make life-changing decisions when I’m not even sure I’m fully conscious. Not to mention it’s entirely unromantic to have it sprung on you without any warning at all…”

 

Arthur finished tying his tie, checked himself in the mirror, and once satisfied that all was in order he walked over to the bed and kissed Merlin firmly on the lips. He’d found it was by far the best way to shut him up. 

 

“Do you want to marry me?” He asked.

 

“Well, yes, of course I do,” Merlin said, deflating a little now that Arthur was in his space. He leaned up and kissed him again, cupping Arthur’s cheeks and sliding one hand into his hair. “That’s not the point.”

 

“Don’t be stupid,” Arthur said. “That’s the entire point. It’s not as if I was planning on asking you — I just looked at you lying there and I thought, well, I wanted to keep on waking up next to you for always. I wanted _you_ for always, and I wanted everyone to know it. Including you.”

 

Merlin blinked. This close, Arthur could see that his eyes had gone all misty the way they sometimes did when Arthur said or did something particularly sweet. Arthur generally tried to avoid such overt displays of emotion just on principle, but secretly he loved it when Merlin looked at him like that.

 

“You’re such a prat,” Merlin said, but he dragged Arthur’s mouth down to his again anyway, so Arthur decided that counted as a win. “I can’t believe you just — “

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Arthur said, smiling. “I’ll do it again properly later, yeah? When we’ve sorted out the rings and running the country and everything. We can even have champagne, if you like, and invite the press — make it all official. But for now, I just…I wanted you to know. All right?”

 

“All right,” Merlin agreed, smiling softly. 

 

Arthur ended up being considerably later to lunch with his father than he had intended, but given that most of the time was spent in bed with his new fiancé, getting his suit rumpled and his tie tugged thoroughly askew, he decided that overall he didn’t really mind that much. After all, it wasn’t every day the love of his life agreed to marry him. The king could wait a few more minutes. Probably.


End file.
